and
asked him for the hand of his beautiful daughter. This was readily
granted, and the two lived in peace and happiness to the end of their
lives.

THE INVISIBLE PRINCE

Once upon a time there lived a Fairy who had power over the earth, the
sea, fire, and the air; and this Fairy had four sons. The eldest, who
was quick and lively, with a vivid imagination, she made Lord of Fire,
which was in her opinion the noblest of all the elements. To the second
son, whose wisdom and prudence made amends for his being rather dull,
she gave the government of the earth. The third was wild and savage, and
of monstrous stature; and the Fairy, his mother, who was ashamed of
his defects, hoped to hide them by creating him King of the Seas. The
youngest, who was the slave of his passions and of a very uncertain
temper, became Prince of the Air.

Being the youngest, he was naturally his mother's favourite; but this
did not blind her to his weaknesses, and she foresaw that some day he
would suffer much pain through falling in love. So she thought the best
thing she could do was to bring him up with a horror of women; and, to
her great delight, she saw this dislike only increased as he grew older.
From his earliest childhood he heard nothing but stories of princes who
had fallen into all sorts of troubles through love; and she drew
such terrible pictures of poor little Cupid that the young man had no
difficulty in believing that he was the root of all evil.

All the time that this wise mother could spare from filling her son
with hatred for all womenkind she passed in giving him a love of the
pleasures of the chase, which henceforth became his chief joy. For his
amusement she had made a new forest, planted with the most splendid
trees, and turned loose in it every animal that could be found in any of
the four quarters of the globe. In the midst of this forest she built a
palace which had not its equal for beauty in the whole world, and then
she considered that she had done enough to make any prince happy.

Now it is all very well to abuse the God of Love, but a man cannot
struggle against his fate. In his secret heart the Prince got tired of
his mother's constant talk on this subject; and when one day she quitted
the palace to attend to some business, begging him never to go beyond
the grounds, he at once jumped at the chance of disobeying her.

Left to himself the Prince soon forgot the wise counsels of his mother,
and feeling